With 189 member countries, staff from more than 170 countries, and offices in over 130 locations, the World Bank Group is a unique global partnership: five institutions working for sustainable solutions that reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries.

Experts And Leaders

The World Bank Group works in every major area of development. We provide a wide array of financial products and technical assistance, and we help countries share and apply innovative knowledge and solutions to the challenges they face.

Country Groups

Global data and statistics, research and publications, and topics in poverty and development

We face big challenges to help the world’s poorest people and ensure that everyone sees benefits from economic growth. Data and research help us understand these challenges and set priorities, share knowledge of what works, and measure progress.

It Takes Villages to Conserve Indonesia’s Precious Coral Reefs

Indonesia's coral reefs are a global treasure yet they are in danger. The World Bank Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project, or Coremap, helps communities revive damaged reefs and improve conservation efforts. Local fishermen are trained to monitor the reefs, and local schools include ecosystem conservation in their curriculum.

World Bank Group

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Indonesia’s coral reefs – which support the economies of many coastal communities – are increasingly under threat.

The World Bank is supporting the government to protect coral reefs and their ecosystems through conservation.

These efforts have helped improve the condition of the coral reefs and will be replicated to other sites.

Wakatobi, Indonesia, June 5, 2014 – As the world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia is blessed with at least 5.1 million hectares of coral reefs. However, almost 65 percent of the reefs are now considered threatened from overfishing. Almost half are considered threatened specifically from destructive fishing practices.

Nadjib Prasyad runs the Fisheries Office in Wakatobi, South-east Sulawesi, and he laments the various activities that destroy the reefs and consequently threaten the livelihood of the villages: fish bombing, sand extraction, collection of the reefs themselves. Prasyad says that, once the reefs die, so do the fish: “We have nothing except our coral reefs.So we have to really protect them since they’re the only source of our region’s development.”

Reviving and conserving coral reefs

The Indonesian government sees the urgency of protecting the reefs. For over 10 years, the World Bank has supported the government’s conservation efforts, which include the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project (COREMAP). This project aims to help empower local communities and governments to jointly manage the use of coral reefs and their surrounding ecosystem. Reviving destroyed coral reefs and improving conservation efforts may in turn increase fish yields and consequently boost the local economy.

In the second phase of the project, 358 coastal communities in seven districts were selected because the communities there suffered from pervasive poverty and extensive degradation of coastal resources.

Through the project, local governments set up protection areas which are then managed in collaboration with the central government. Fishermen are also involved as monitors who survey the protected areas and report any transgressions.

Fisherman Hendriawan checks the coral reefs every day, when he’s out fishing. “If we see people enter the protected area, we approach them to ensure they do not disturb the fish,” says Hendriawan, who adds that he asks intruders to fish outside the protected areas.

Hendriawan joined the reefs surveillance team after realizing the benefits of conservation: more fish. “When the coral reefs are healthy, there will be a lot of fish to catch and our income will increase,” he says.

Coremap is now part of the Coral Triangle Initiative, which includes Indonesia and five neighboring countries, and whose objective is to protect an area of enormous ecological diversity.

" When the coral reefs are healthy, there will be a lot of fish to catch and our income will increase. "

Hendriawan

Fisherman

Raising community awareness

Community participation has been key to Coremap’s success. The sources of damage to the reefs were many, explained Nadjib Prasyad, but most important was the fact that, “People actually had no awareness about the dangers if the coral reefs were damaged.”

To help communities realize the potential dangers, the government carried out a broad public awareness program, including a radio program aired in the villages, events, and competitions held jointly with communities.

The awareness program also aims to educate members of the communities from a young age. The project supported production of materials for primary and secondary schools which teach the students about the importance of coral reefs. The materials were incorporated by the Ministry of Education and inserted in the formal local curriculum for districts where the project is active.

Many teachers say that the children are now more aware about the urgency to protect the environment. Rizki, a high school student, recently obtained a small district-government grant to research how to help protect the beach near his village. Coremap is his inspiration. “I’m interested in doing this because I’ve been taught about our environment since primary school,” says Rizki.

Project results

Prasyad notes that significant changes have taken place due to the project. “Coral reef coverage has increased and the sea grass is growing back,” he says.

Training of teachers in 92 percent of schools, with the curriculum translated in nearly all the local languages.

Now in its third phase as of February 2014, Coremap is focused on incorporating the project’s approach into local government and village programs – a blueprint so that coral reef protection becomes an integral part of development planning and improves the welfare of coastal communities.

follow us

newsletter

You have clicked on a link to a page that is not part of the beta version of the new worldbank.org. Before you leave, we’d love to get your feedback on your experience while you were here. Will you take two minutes to complete a brief survey that will help us to improve our website?

Feedback Survey

Thank you for agreeing to provide feedback on the new version of worldbank.org; your response will help us to improve our website.

What was the purpose of your visit to worldbank.org today?

Did the layout and navigation of the new site help you locate what you were looking for?
Yes
No

Do you have any other feedback on the new version of our website? (Optional)

If you are willing to be contacted in the future to help us improve our website, please leave your email address below.

Which of the following best describes your career field or organization?
Student
Academic/Professor
Government Employee
Media Organization
Multilateral Organization
NGO or Nonprofit
Private Sector Firm
World Bank Group
Other

How often do you visit the World Bank website?
This is my first time
Daily
About once a week
About once a month
Every six months or less often

Thank you for participating in this survey! Your feedback is very helpful to us as we work to improve the site functionality on worldbank.org.